Ice Volcanoes Unique To Pluto
NASA’s recent 3D images of Pluto show two mountains on the dwarf planet that could be ice volcanoes. Scientists called the objects cryovolcanoes and say that the formations could have been active in the recent past. Pluto’s ice volcanoes cover a huge area and rise to over 3.5 miles in height. According to NASA, the volcanoes of Pluto send out a mixture of nitrogen, water ice, or methane into the planet’s atmosphere.
If scientists prove that the new findings are volcanic objects, the finding will turn a new page in Pluto’s history. So far, such a phenomenon has not been observed anywhere else in the Solar System.
The new discovery resulted from the use of the New Horizons Space Mission – an aircraft that requires approximately nine years to reach Pluto. This is the spacecraft that has traveled farther into space than any other.
Take a look at article below for a fascinating read …
Four Months after Pluto Flyby, NASA’s New Horizons Yields Wealth of Discovery
New Horizons images of Pluto’s surface to make 3-D topographic mapsUsing New Horizons images of Pluto’s surface to make 3-D topographic maps, scientists discovered that two of Pluto’s mountains, informally named Wright Mons and Piccard Mons, could be ice volcanoes. The color depicts changes in elevation, blue indicating lower terrain and brown showing higher elevation. Green terrains are at intermediate heights.
From possible ice volcanoes to twirling moons, NASA’s New Horizons science team is discussing more than 50 exciting discoveries about Pluto at this week’s 47th Annual Meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences in National Harbor, Maryland.
“The New Horizons mission has taken what we thought we knew about Pluto and turned it upside down,” said Jim Green, director of planetary science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “It’s why we explore — to satisfy our innate curiosity and answer deeper questions about how we got here and what lies beyond the next horizon.”
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